Brian Rose of the classics department at the University of Cincinnati and I are more than cordial: We’re downright friendly when we see each other at scholarly conferences, even though he would never think of writing for Archaeology Odyssey. It would violate his deepest principles to write for a magazine that accepts ads from dealers in antiquities. Nonetheless, I went to hear Brian’s paper at the annual meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) in New Orleans last January. He’s a fine scholar. I knew I would learn a good deal from his presentation—and I did.
Brian spoke about evidence for life around Troy in the classical period. We know about the Troad (northwestern Turkey) in earlier periods, including the time of the Trojan War (late second millennium B.C.), but almost nothing about the fifth century B.C. (specialists in the field call it the “classical gap”). Until now, that is.
Brian reported that recently some extraordinary marble sarcophagi from this period have been recovered in a rescue dig by the Canakki Museum in Turkey. The sarcophagi were left behind by looters who had only partially excavated the tombs.
The most beautiful of the sarcophagi was engraved in high relief and portrayed scenes from the legend of Polyxena, the daughter of the Trojan king Priam and his wife Hecuba, who was killed when Troy was conquered by the Greeks.
Although we should be grateful to the museum for recovering these sarcophagi, much more has been lost to the looters. One large corner of a sarcophagus was broken off by the looters’ bulldozer! Yes, they had the audacity to work, not with shovels under cover of night, but with a bulldozer in broad daylight.
The looters had no trouble locating the tombs. They are well marked by mounds of earth and stones called tumuli (singular, tumulus). There are hundreds of them in the area.
Can’t the archaeological community do anything to stop this looting other than vilifying collectors, museums and antiquities dealers and inveighing against Archaeology Odyssey for accepting antiquities ads?
Why doesn’t the archaeological community use its considerable influence to mount a wide-scale professional excavation of these tombs? We know where they are. If money is needed, why not sell some artifacts to such public institutions as museums? Benefactors could easily be found to support the museums’ purchases, especially if the AIA would stop castigating wealthy collectors. Wouldn’t this be better than leaving the tombs to the looters and their bulldozers?
After his talk, I suggested this to Brian. “We do the best we can,” he replied.
Brian Rose of the classics department at the University of Cincinnati and I are more than cordial: We’re downright friendly when we see each other at scholarly conferences, even though he would never think of writing for Archaeology Odyssey. It would violate his deepest principles to write for a magazine that accepts ads from dealers in antiquities. Nonetheless, I went to hear Brian’s paper at the annual meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) in New Orleans last January. He’s a fine scholar. I knew I would learn a good deal from his presentation—and I did. Brian spoke […]
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